Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome this Bill. As my colleague Deputy Cullinane has said, it will ensure AHR practices and related areas of research are conducted in a more consistent way and with the oversight of a new watchdog, the AHR regulatory authority. Under the legislation, this new regulatory authority will be responsible for regulating treatments such as IVF and licensing and regulating domestic altruistic surrogacy, pre-implantation genetic diagnoses and other embryo screening procedures, as well as posthumous assisted human reproduction. Regarding research involving embryos and stem cells, the legislation sets out which practices are prohibited and which are allowed, and how they should be regulated.

According to experts, the UK's legislation combined with the Netherlands' financial legislation section is the most effective hybrid model of best practice for this area in Ireland. It has been five years since the drafting of this legislation began and more than 15 years since the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction called for new laws to govern practices in this area of great ethical complexity. It is clear that this legislation is long overdue. The role of the new regulatory authority will be essential to embedding safe and appropriate clinical AHR practices in this country. The new authority will also maintain a new national surrogacy register and the existing national donor-conceived person register.

We need strong protections to ensure adequate oversight of this fast-moving area of medicine. We must ensure adequate protection for the thousands of people who wish to have children safely through AHR and must clarify the legal position of children born from AHR. We must also ensure research around new reproductive technologies is carried out within a prescribed ethical context.

It is disappointing that the legislation does not contain provisions in respect of international surrogacy. I understand a special joint committee is being set up to examine all aspects of this complicated issue and I hope its recommendations will be addressed swiftly.

It is over five years since the current Tánaiste announced the Government would introduce publicly-funded fertility treatment. It is almost three years since the Government announced funding for IVF and fertility treatment and publicly committed to funding a model of care for infertility as part of the public health system. There are thousands of people who need support in order to access consultations and diagnostics for both men and women experiencing fertility difficulties. We need an urgent roll-out of the public model of care for infertility. Those who need IVF can expect to pay between €4,000 and €4,500 for one course of treatment. The costs can escalate, depending on what treatment is necessary, as Deputy Cullinane has said.

Ireland and Lithuania remain the only EU countries not to offer state funding for assisted reproduction, even thought the World Health Organization recognises infertility as a medical condition. This Bill is a step in the right direction but there is a long road ahead. The Government is lagging behind private companies, which often get a bad rap in this House. I commend Vodafone, which recently announced that it would extend its fully-paid 26 weeks of maternity leave to those who become parents via surrogacy. It also offers 16 weeks of paid leave for non-primary caregivers, whether they become a parent through birth, adoption or surrogacy. On top of that, it announced ten days' paid leave for employees who experience pregnancy loss before 24 weeks, whether it happens to the employee, their partner or their surrogate. It also offers flexible and hybrid working options and ten days' paid leave each year for those undergoing treatment, with two days for their partners. Meanwhile, Bills on similar policies at governmental level continue to stutter their way through the legislative process. Let us not forget the constitutional crisis caused when the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, decided to take the standard six months of maternity leave. She was the first Cabinet Minister to do so in Irish history. It is time to catch up.

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